The suspect in the assassination of Yvan Colonna remained “mute” during his hearing by an investigating judge

In a letter to the judge in February, Franck Elong Abé spoke of “an act sponsored” by “agents of the DGSI”. He is suspected of the fatal attack of Corsican activist Yvan Colonna in Arles prison in 2022.

Franck Elong Abé, the suspect in the fatal attack on Yvan Colonna at Arles prison, was interviewed on Friday April 5 by an investigating judge, France Bleu RCFM learned from the lawyers of the civil parties. Far from “big unboxing” announced, he remained “mutique” during this hearing, which started at 2:30 p.m., by video, and ended around 4 p.m.

In a letter sent to the investigating judge on February 21, Franck Elong Abé changed his version and indicated that he had killed the Corsican independence activist on “order” of“DGSI agents”. During his first interrogations, he explained that he had attacked Yvan Colonna because he had blasphemed against the Prophet Mohammed. He claimed to have “acted alone”, “on behalf of no group”. Yvan Colonna, who was serving a life sentence for the assassination of prefect Claude Erignac in 1998, was violently attacked on March 2, 2022 in the sports hall of Arles prison by this radicalized man. Yvan Colonna died a month later.

A “contemptuous” attitude, according to the civil parties

During his hearing on Friday, Franck Elong Abé remained “mutique” before the magistrate and six civil party lawyers present. “Contrary to what he had mentioned and written in his letter addressed to the judge, where he announced a major unpacking, he allowed silence, lamented on France Bleu RCFM Me Dominique Paolini, one of the lawyers of the civil party, at the end of this videoconference hearing. He had a totally silent attitude […] but contemptuous.” However, Me Paolini believes that “this silence does not necessarily mean that everything is blocked”. According to him, this silence can also be interpreted as a “form of explanation”.

At the time of the events, Franck Elong Abé had been classified as a particularly serious detainee (DPS) since November 2015 due to his “great danger”, “his instability” and “the persistence of his violent behavior”, according to investigation documents. . He was then serving several sentences, including a nine-year prison sentence for terrorist conspiracy. Since the assassination of Yvan Colonna, he has been indicted for assassination in connection with a terrorist enterprise.